Media freedom and the Internet

At present, every press or printing establishment in Sri Lanka is required to register, and to send copies of every item printed to the National Archives. According to the Sri Lanka Press Council Act, all newspapers, magazines and periodicals published in the island must be registered with the Sri Lanka Press Council. No such provision existed for websites, so the Ministry of Mass Media and Information issued regulations and guidelines regarding registration of websites with the Information Department

A mighty furore broke out last week when the Police raided and sealed a Rajagiriya office involved in the publication of two Internet websites, arresting several employees - who were later enlarged on bail.

The government was accused by rights groups of 'harassing' journalists. A spokesman for the New York-based Human Rights Watch said that the 'raids (sic)... were part of a broader effort to intimidate and harass all critical journalists.' The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that it showed the 'government remains determined to silence opposition voices'.

Parenthetically, it should be noted that HRW has been criticised widely for its selective criticism regarding, for example, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela; it has been accused of being heavily influenced by foreign policy aims of the government of the United States of America.

It should also be noted that the CPJ recently characterised the independent newspaper the Daily Mirror as 'pro-government' - which makes its assessment of what happens in Sri Lanka highly suspect, to say the least!

United National Party (UNP) Member of Parliament Mangala Samaraweera said he would file a fundamental rights petition regarding the raid.

He said that one of the two websites is the official website of his party's Communications Division.

National Archives

The Media Centre for National Security said in a press release that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had raided the office on a court order. It said the websites continuously targeted celebrities and well-known personalities, propagated false and unethical news and misled international and local communities.

There are two issues at stake here. One is of media freedom and the other is of the implementation of the law of the land. As far as the law is concerned, there are two issues, one of registration and the other of 'false and unethical news'.

At present, every press or printing establishment in Sri Lanka is required to register, and to send copies of every item printed to the National Archives. According to the Sri Lanka Press Council Act, all newspapers, magazines and periodicals published in the island must be registered with the Sri Lanka Press Council.

No such provision existed for websites, so the Ministry of Mass Media and Information issued regulations and guidelines regarding registration of websites with the Information Department.

Last December, the Supreme Court granted permission to the Ministry of Mass Media and Information to continue to register websites that disseminate news and information on the country and its people, also ordering the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to conduct a full inquiry into websites operating in Sri Lanka and register them with the ministry.

According to the CID, these two websites had declined to register. Mangala Samaraweera, on the other hand, said at least one of the websites did not need to register. This is a matter to be decided by the courts.

Concerning the issue of 'false and unethical news', Article 120 of the Penal Code states that:

'Whoever by words, either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs; or by visible representations, or otherwise, excites or attempts to excite feelings of disaffection to the President or to the Government of the Republic, or excites or attempts to excite hatred to or contempt of the administration of justice, or excites or attempts to excite the People of Sri Lanka to procure, otherwise than by lawful means, the alteration of any matter by law established, or attempts to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the People of Sri Lanka, or to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of such People, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years.'

This is a modification, made after the country became a republic, substituting 'President' for 'Queen' and 'Government of the Republic' for 'Her Government in Ceylon'. Similar provisions were included widely in penal codes within the Commonwealth. For example, Section 81(a) of the Crimes Act of New Zealand, makes it an offence to 'bring into hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection against, Her Majesty, or the Government of New Zealand, or the administration of justice'.

This is a general law, applying to all private citizens as well as to the press. The Internet is not exempt from the general law of the land.

Of course, HRW and CPJ may be confused because the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which only allows ex-post facto action, does not apply to Sri Lanka, or to any other Commonwealth country, for that matter.

Commercial companies

However, they must be aware that even the US government by-passes the First Amendment by using indirect methods. For example, it censors the Internet by putting pressure on commercial companies, as was the case with Amazon and Wikileaks.

A few years ago, it was reported that the US Office of Foreign Assets Control was using a blacklist of websites, with which US companies are prohibited from doing business and the assets of which they were bound to freeze.

Accordingly, domain name registrars based in the USA had to block these websites - one private web hosting company disabled the website of a travel agency advertising Cuba as a destination.

On the other hand, there may also be considerable confusion because there has hitherto been no clearly demarcated policy regarding Internet news. Perhaps because of lack of understanding about the new medium, there has been insufficient effort to address the issue in a consistent manner - only ad-hoc measures.

This was highlighted by Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who said at this week's Cabinet media briefing that the Press Council Act will be amended to bring internet media in line with the print and electronic media.

This would be done by introducing new regulations and guidelines aimed at streamlining websites and by making the registration of news websites compulsory.